Time After Time: Out of Time

If you're a viewer that left "Time After Time" (TAT) after it's first night you may have to rethink your decision.

No, it's not about the beefcake appeal, although I'm sure it helps, TAT just flipped the storytelling convention on it's head and decided it's ready to challenge us.

Good.

If you read my last blog post on TAT you'll know that I conceived of a nice but pat conspiracy theory, an imaginary "Red Headed League" and a dupe or two.  (See also my first post.)

Heck, I even threw in the possibility that Jack the Ripper had a human side to him.


Let's start with the conspiracy theory.


Conspiracy Upended

 

I had this quaint little notion Vanessa Anders was the head of a world wide conglomerate that benefited from the work and travels of HG Wells.  She had also fooled him into thinking they were related.

 

Furthermore, she had the hapless future Senator named Griffin on a string so that she could have the powerful US congressman in her pocket.  This would enable her to grease the skids to furthering her nefarious ambitions.

So what really happened?

Fractures started appear in the ever cozy and snug relationship between the two.  Griffin began to pout and intimated their relationship was in danger because of feelings of mistrust.

So Vanessa drops the bomb on him.  George Wells is really HG Wells and he has a time machine.  She then dropped a bomb on me by earnestly divulging she and HG are related and this could be conclusively proven!  Totally believable.

Griffin counters with stark disbelief and wonders if Vanessa has lost her mind.

Bravo, Time After Time, you got me.  

By the end of the episode, Griffin had witnessed the full on power of the time machine and was on the phone revealing he now had access to the machine.

He's the conspirator!  Vanessa is the dupe!

Well played Time After Time.


The "Red-Headed League"

I exercised a little humor when I referred to the above gentleman as a member of "The Red Headed League."  It's a reference to a Sherlock Holmes adventure of the same name.  Nicholas Meyer who wrote the original Time After Time and the teleplay for the pilot is a huge Holmes fan and has written three Sherlock books.  So why not draw a connection and give the man a nod.

I had figured this man was part of group that may be related to HG and is aware of his every movement and invention because of it.

This particular guy had a "yarn map" up on his wall and several pictures of HG.  He's stalking him.

So is he a relative of HG and working to protect his interests?

Not exactly.

 

It's his mother that knows all about HG!  Not only that, she is aware of his connection to Jack the Ripper and their travels to her time period.  Who is this lady?

It seems she has an axe to grind with Wells and is no friend of Jack either.

So, how does she know about them?

• Is history repeating itself and HG has made this trip before but he doesn't know it? 
• Did HG visit her much earlier and tell her all bout his travels and that of the Ripper?
• Is she a victim of The Ripper and blames both for her sad fate?  (Whatever it might be?)

Whatever the reasons, it seems to be a family secret.  She's entrusted her son to act out her revenge but kept it a secret from her other son whom looks nothing like his brother.

Whatever HG and Jack did to this poor woman it looks like death is the only answer.  Our red headed friend, who goes by the name of Chad, has traced HG and Jane to a gem repository (more on that soon) and looks to kill them.


He's not a very good shot.

But Doug is!

Doug being head of security for Vanessa and who was waiting out by the car.  Nice work Doug.  It's the end of the Red Headed League.

Or is it?


The New Red-Headed League

Is this just a coincidence or what?

Another redhead has entered the picture.  She is Brooke Monroe (old friend Jennifer Ferrin from "Falling Skies") and she seems to know a thing or two.

HG had his stalker in Chad and John (Jack the Ripper) had now made a new friend.  Brooke and John run into each other at an outdoor market and Brooke injures her wrist.  Being a doctor and the gallant (murderous) gentleman that he is, Dr. Stevenson tends to her injury.

No good deed goes unpunished.

Did I mention John was a Lothario also?

The two end up in bed and poor sweet Brooke has allowed herself to be seduced. 

Never turn your back on Jack the Ripper my dear.

  

No worries!  

Brooke is quite capable and knows exactly what she is doing.  

 "I'm someone who's been waiting a very long time to meet you."

So, someone else knows about one of our time travelers before he made his arrival.  How does she know about John/Jack?

• Did John make a previous stop to her past perhaps when she was a child?
• Was she given information about John from a mysterious group and assigned to his capture?
• Is she acting alone or partnered with our other redheaded friend Chad?

She knows enough about John to keep him safely secured.  I wonder what her plan is?  In the above picture, she looks to have a secret lab.  Is she going to experiment on John or does she look to maneuver him?

The Red-Headed League lives!

Time After Time has really flipped the narrative.  Those who seemed suspicious before, like Vanessa, are now good and a seemingly innocent soul, Brooke, has a secret plan of her own!

I love it.

Odds and Ends

 

We learned a little more about the time machine in this past episode.

It's power is brought to focus by an "Alexandrite gemstone."  From what we've learned, it "focuses the light into a specific wavelength that allows the machine to breach the fourth dimension."

Sounds easy.

Unfortunately, the original gemstone was cracked when HG sought to sabotage John's escape.  Hence the search for a new stone that led Jane and HG to the gem repository.  

Jane had an old "friend" that works there and for his trouble he got thumped on the head by Chad.  

Boy, what did HG do to Chad's mom?

  

You can't fill out your Scooby Gang unless you have a techno-geek to help.

We are introduced to Martin Scott played by Omar Maskati.  Since HG isn't up to speed with computers, Martin provides the useful know how.  He even managed to interface his laptop with the machine.

 

 

A lot happened and the sparks flew in this past episode.  The conspiracy was turned on it's head.  Our red maned friends are exerting a lot of power and John went from killer perv to lab rat.  Emphasis on rat.

Time After Time had a slow start but they seem to be up to the task.  We got some clever writing and timely plot twists.  

Let's see what they have up for us next!  Tick, tick, tick.